Spokesman-Review
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Phoenix 93, New Orleans 78
When: 8:00 PM ET, Friday, December 30, 2011
Where: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Officials: #23 Jason Phillips, #51 Leroy Richardson, # Scott Twardoski
Attendance: 15790

Hakim Warrick scored 18 points and Jared Dudley added 16 as the Phoenix Suns cruised to a 93-78 victory over the host New Orleans Hornets on Friday.

Channing Frye grabbed 16 rebounds and Steve Nash had 12 assists as Phoenix (1-2) avoided its first 0-3 start since the 1996-97 campaign.

Carl Landry had 17 points for New Orleans (2-1), which shot a franchise-worst 28.9 percent while playing without guard Eric Gordon for the second straight game.

Gordon hit the game-winning shot when the Hornets won their season-opening game in Phoenix on Monday but bruised his right knee during the contest.

New Orleans trailed by 17 points with 11 minutes to play before a 10-2 push got the Hornets within 82-73 on Emeka Okafor’s rebound hoop with 6:03 to play.

But Dudley scored five points and Marcin Gortat had four as Phoenix put the game away with an 11-3 run.

Gortat had 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

Okafor had 16 rebounds for New Orleans. Jarrett Jack scored 12 points but was just 6-of-20 shooting.

The Suns led 52-45 at halftime and used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to build a 68-51 lead on Gortat’s layup with 4:54 left in the period.
Top Game Performances
 
Phoenix   New Orleans
Hakim Warrick 18 Scoring Carl Landry 17
Steve Nash 12 Assists Greivis Vasquez 5
Channing Frye 16 Rebounds Emeka Okafor 16
Hakim Warrick 6 Free Throws Made Emeka Okafor 6
Shannon Brown 2 Steals Trevor Ariza 2
Marcin Gortat 4 Blocks Chris Kaman 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Phoenix 93 42.3 7-23 20-22 22 47 10 3 12
New Orleans 78 28.9 3-14 23-28 14 57 5 4 13
Upcoming Games
  • New Orleans will play their next game on the road against Sacramento. The Hornets have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .000 after a loss.
  • Phoenix will play their next game on the road against Oklahoma City. The Suns have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .333 after a loss.